5 Hour Tour

I decided to brave the winter storm warning and head to Michigan yesterday. I packed up an emergency bag with flashlights, blankets, water, beef jerky and some energy bars before I left chilly Chicago. About half way into my drive I was doing pretty well, despite the 40 MPH winds and white out conditions. Just outside St. Joesph/Benton Harbor I encountered firetrucks blocking off the highway. As it turns out the highway was closed for a 9 mile stretch due to an 100 car pile up.

http://jalopnik.com/5115757/100+car-pileup-on-i+94-in-michigan-leaves-one-dead

So I struggled through 9 miles of back roads in my front wheel drive Hyundai. I started to think maybe this was a stupid idea. I started blasting Christmas music and continued on. Then the radio annouced the winter storm warning had been upgraded to a Blizzard for the next 24 hours. Fantastic.

I finally got back on the highway and about another 15 miles up the road I saw another huge pile up.- that is the photo above. No one was killed in that accident, thankfully.

So please drive home safely this holiday season. Bring food/water/blankets and don't be a cowboy!!

Road to The Ironman Part 2: Memphis Half Marathon

This weekend I joined 11,000 other runners in the St Jude's Marathon/Half Marathon Weekend. The run raised millions (literally) of dollars for St Judes which is a research hospital for Children's Cancer. The course path toured all of downtown Memphis including the Mississippi river, zoo, bealle street, and the hospital itself. There were live bands every mile and thousands of thankful spectators and cancer patients/survivors.



I followed a 12 week online training program and somehow managed to make it from the couch to a half marathon in 12 weeks. I am thrilled that I ran almost the entire race, but am limping like an old lady now. I really felt like I couldn't make it even one step further! Obviously still have a long way to go before September, but will enjoy this small victory for now.

Graceland

Christina and I visited the home of Elvis Presley this morning. I've never really cared much about Elvis, but it was actually really fun to visit. Mostly because nothing has been changed since the late seventies!
I learned a lot of interesting things about Elvis. For example, his father's name was Vernon. His TV room is decorated in floor to ceiling maize and blue (with a mirror ceiling). Who knew Elvis was a Michigan fan?
Elvis and Natalie share a love for decorating in all white.

Proposal

My medical school roommate Jordana's sneaky boyfriend used this picture text message to propose to her on Thursday night. He was sitting right next to her in a carriage in Central Park with the actual ring. Don is a radiologist and Jordana an ER doctor! So adorable.
I was confused when I got the text picture in the middle of the night, thinking she was sending me a medical case from her ER. I responded: Oh yeah, well I found a tongue ring in the the colon (see below). She got a good chuckle out of that one.

Medical Warning

In the last week I have had colleagues encounter two unfortunate sexually related injuries. One involved a dislodged tongue ring in an unfortunate location. Another included an intubation due to a never seen before complication from a "hummer." As things happen in groups of three, I wanted to warn my friends and family to be careful in their extracurricular activities until the third complication reveals itself.